


Underdogs

by Trillian_Astra



Category: Les Misérables (2012), Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, Warning: attempted suicide, being human AU, i really need to stop writing Being Human AUs, vampires werewolves and ghosts oh my, warning: implied child abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-24
Updated: 2013-02-24
Packaged: 2017-12-03 11:39:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/697859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trillian_Astra/pseuds/Trillian_Astra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jean Valjean is a reformed vampire who stopped the newly-turned-werewolf Javert from jumping off a bridge. Then they move into a new house, which turns out to be haunted by Fantine, who doesn't remember how she died and just wants to make sure that her daughter is all right.</p><p>And that's when things get complicated.</p><p>basically, I wrote ~another being human AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Underdogs

 

He had met Javert when the other man was standing on the parapet of a bridge, trying to build up the courage to jump. He hadn’t, obviously, Valjean had stayed and had talked to, or at least talked _at_ , him and had refused to leave without him.

Valjean wondered sometimes what it was about Javert that had made him do that.

Whatever it had been, he’d set Javert up in his spare room and waited for him to start talking.

It was a good thing Valjean was good at waiting, because it took two days. He’d been hanging around in the kitchen of his flat, trying to think of something to do, when he became conscious of a shadow in the doorway.

“I was attacked,” his guest said. “It was… an animal. An animal unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”

“We need tea,” Valjean said, reaching for the kettle.

It had taken another day, and several mugs of tea, but slowly Valjean pieced the situation together, and told Javert about the existence of things like werewolves and vampires and how an otherwise ordinary police detective might become one of the former after being bitten during an attack. Javert took it well, he thought, but it was hard to be sure.

***

Having a werewolf in tow meant that the flat was no longer suitable as living quarters. So they found a house out on the edge of town, somewhere isolated and close to the woods. Somewhere where no-one would hear the howls.

***

They had few possessions, just a couple of bags each, and moving in was a matter of taking their bags out of Valjean’s battered car.

The house was old, and a little shabby, but well-built, with an overgrown garden and a collection of mismatched second-hand furniture.

It also had a cellar with a heavy door and a good lock.

Valjean nodded. “I think this will do.”

Javert looked at it, taking everything in, and said nothing.

***

To say that Javert _found_ the woman in the kitchen would be inaccurate. In fact, he didn’t see her until she threw a mug at him.

He ducked, and it smashed against the wall, and she glared at him furiously.

“Get out!” she screamed. “Get out, get out, get out…” She fell to the floor, her words collapsing into heavy sobs.

“Who are you?” Valjean said. He looked at Javert reproachfully, as if it was _his_ fault she was upset. “What’s your name?”

The woman looked up at him and sniffed.

“You can see me?” she said plaintively.

“My name is Jean Valjean,” he said, “and this is my… housemate, Javert. We won’t hurt you. What’s your name?”

“F-Fantine,” she said. “Do you know where Felix is? He… is he looking after my baby?”

Valjean frowned. Then  he remembered that the man renting them this house was called Felix. “Felix Tholomyes?”

Fantine’s face lit up. “That’s him! Where is he?”

“I think he’s out of the country, he’s renting the house to us.”

“Out of the c-country?” she asked, “but what about the baby, he was supposed to be looking after our baby…”

“He didn’t say anything about a kid, I’m…sorry…”

“Oh,” she said quietly. Then she wiped a hand across her eyes and stood up. “Well. I suppose you’ll be staying, then, so… welcome to the house,” she said, before vanishing in front of their eyes.

“This is bad,” Javert said. “Perhaps a different house?”

Valjean shook his head. “No. I don’t think she’s a danger to us. I think she’s just been here on her own for too long. She needs our help.”

***

They didn’t see much of Fantine after that first encounter.Valjean kept looking up, expecting her to be there, but seeing only empty space. They knew she was there, because now and again they heard crashing noises coming from the attic, but it took a while for her  to approach them.

When she did, Valjean was alone in the sitting room, looking at the classified ads in the newspaper for a job. Javert had gone out, for a run he thought, so when he heard a noise behind him he thought it must be her. He didn’t look around though, not wanting to scare her away.

“How can you see me?” she said. “No-one else can. The last people who lived here couldn’t see me.”

“You’re a ghost…”

“I know _that_ ,” she said, irritated. “I want to know what _you_ are. Are you.. psychics, or something? I’ve seen those TV shows…”

Valjean repressed a smile. “Uh- no, we’re not psychics. I’m a vampire.”

“And your friend?”

“Javert? I’m still not sure he’s my friend. He’s a werewolf.”

She sat in the armchair opposite him, curling her legs under herself. “Do you hurt people? The vampires on TV always hurt people. Do you?”

He swallowed, and decided right then that he wasn’t going to lie to her. “I used to.”

“You stopped?”

“It’s… a bit like being in the AA. I have to fight against it every day. The urge is always there.”

“That must be hard.”

“I’ve found things that help. But you’re right, it is hard.” Feeling awkward, he said, “Do you know how long you’ve been… um, a ghost?”

The smile vanished from her face. “I think it’s been a couple of years. I don’t remember exactly how _it_ happened, but I think it’s been that long. She’ll be almost six now…”

“Your child?”

Fantine nodded. “Her name’s Cosette. Felix found us this house to live in… he travels a lot so he couldn’t stay all the time, but he’d come and see us whenever he could. I hope she’s all right.. he must have taken her to live with him, after what happened.”

“I could ask him,” Valjean blurted out. Fantine’s face lit up.

“What?”

“He’s our landlord, so… the next time I speak to him I could ask. I’ll… make something up, ask if he has a family.”

“You’d do that? Oh, thank you!” She moved over  to the sofa and hugged him. It felt a little like being hugged by an unusually substantial cloud.

***

“You told her _what_?” He hadn’t really seen Javert angry before. It came as something of a surprise.

“She was upset! She wants to know what happened to her kid, what was I supposed to do?”

“Anything that doesn’t involve asking suspicious questions of our landlord, perhaps…”

“It’ll be fine, he’ll just think I’m being friendly.”

“We don’t _want_ to get friendly with people, that’s what is going to get people hurt.”

“We also don’t want to become known as _those two creepy guys in the old house_ , trust me. I’ve been down that road before and it almost always ends in angry mobs with pitchforks and torches.”

Javert frowned. “Well,” he said after a pause, “just be careful.”

Valjean just looked at him. “When am I ever _not_ careful?”

***

Things settled down, and they got used to being housemates. Javert and Valjean found jobs as porters in the local hospital. Fantine got used to being able to talk to people again. She still couldn’t leave the house, but she smiled more, and when they came home from work she would make them cups of tea and ask them about their day. At first, these conversations were just between her and Valjean, who actually liked meeting people, but over time Javert started to involve himself as well.

One morning, Valjean came downstairs for breakfast to find his two housemates deep in conversation, Javert cooking while Fantine perched on the table holding a mug of tea that she couldn’t drink, and he smiled to himself.

***

That night, an idea occurred to Valjean. He took his laptop up to his room, turned it on and did a search for news stories from the area that involved Felix Tholomyes.

He wasn’t sure what he expected to find. Mostly there were just stories about Tholomyes’ business… though there was one that caught his eye.

 _Local woman dies in tragic accident_ , the title said. There was a picture, a smiling young woman with long dark hair that he recognised as Fantine, holding a plump baby with wispy blonde hair. Or at least, Fantine as she was several years ago. The story gave few details, saying that there had been some kind of accident in the house, and that the police weren’t treating her death as suspicious.

The story also mentioned that she was survived by her long-term boyfriend Felix Tholomyes, a successful businessman, and their four-year-old daughter. Valjean looked at the picture of Fantine holding her child, and frowned. He couldn’t shake the feeling that her faith that Tholomyes was looking after the little girl was misplaced, but he couldn’t say _why_ he was so convinced.

***

He got something of an answer just a few days later. He was in the A&E department at the hospital, making up recently-vacated beds, when he noticed a couple with a little girl nearby.

The little girl had thin blonde hair, and was sitting on the edge of a bed cradling her arm. The couple with her were talking to the doctor.

“…she was climbing a tree and she fell, I should ‘ave been watching her better, but we’ve three others, and the baby was crying, I took me eyes off ‘er for a second… it’s all my fault..” the woman wailed melodramatically.The man put an arm around her and said,

“Will little Cosette be all right? It’s not broken, is it?”

Valjean frowned. Cosette was an unusual name, and the child looked about the right age. But what was Fantine’s daughter doing with these people? He waited until the doctor had moved on, and until the couple had gone outside (complaining loudly about how much they both needed a cigarette), and walked past the child’s bed. He glanced down at the chart. _Cosette Thenardier_ , it said, _six years old_.

He became conscious of someone watching him, and noticed Cosette staring at him, with blue eyes that seemed huge in her thin face.

“Hello,” he said softly. “I’m Jean. What’s your name?”

She looked at him for a long time before saying, “Cosette,” very quietly.

“Nice to meet you, Cosette. Who were those people? Are they your mum and dad?”

She shook her head. “No. I don’t have a mum. I had a daddy once but he went away. He left me with _them_.”

“Oi!” A shout disturbed them. “Get away from her, you!” Valjean turned to see the woman bearing down on him.

“I’m sorry, we were just talking…”

“You get away from her! Pervert!” The woman yelled.

Not wanting to draw any undue attention, Valjean quickly retreated. He glanced at Cosette one final time. Her gaze met his, and he gave her a tiny smile, trying to silently tell her to be brave.

As he walked away, he had one name on his mind.

 _Thenardier._ He knew that name. And when the woman had been shouting at him he had noticed something – she was a vampire too. He frowned. This was getting a lot more complicated than he had thought.

 


End file.
